


He's Called the Prince of Stories

by slashmania



Series: accumulating names like others make friends [8]
Category: Inception (2010), The Sandman (Comics)
Genre: Eames and Dream flirting, Flirting, Kissing, M/M, Matthew gives Eames the shovel talk, but not today!, dreamer calls Eames a beefcake, interrupting Lucien, prince - Freeform, prince of stories, someday I will be sick of talking about Dream's love of Eames as both himself and Arthur, we finally made it to this point everyone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-10
Updated: 2019-12-17
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:13:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21748093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashmania/pseuds/slashmania
Summary: "I didn't say that our server was inaccurate...just that we weren't going to have sex with her at the dinner table. That we weren't going to have sex with her at all. It just isn't polite."Eames's smile widened. "That was a very interesting distinction, Dream."
Relationships: Dream of the Endless | Daniel/Eames (Inception)
Series: accumulating names like others make friends [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/775749
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Day 18: Prince

_"How has the new point turned out?"_ Dream asked politely as a dreamer in a negligee poured his wine.

"She's doing well. Learning fast, really. I think that Cobb is getting used to not giving her every little task and rationalizing that if Arthur had done it why shouldn't she do it also?"

 _"Typical Cobb,"_ Dream said fondly. _"I trust that you gave him a swift reminder?"_

"I didn't have to. She put Cobb in his place quickly, apologized for being rude, then took it back and said that it would be more sensible for everyone to rotate responsibilities for food or coffee runs, clean up, and whatever else needed to be done." Eames sounded impressed.

The dreamer moved to Eames's side and poured wine into his glass. Then she placed the bottle of wine on the table and looked from Dream to Eames before announcing, "When will this become a sex dream? I'd love a bit of the beefcake!"

Dream hid his smile behind his hand and Eames nearly spat out his wine.

 _"That will be all, Janet,"_ Dream said. The dreamer didn't even get to pout before she vanished from the room, probably waking from what she'd hoped would eventually become a sex dream, unsatisfied.

Dream watched Eames pick up his glass of wine, rethink it, then pick it up again to take a bracing swallow.

"Just to be clear, she was calling me beefcake, right?"

Dream nodded. _"Of the two of us you do fit the definition."_

It was true. Dream was thin, tall, and not particularly muscular. Dream had personal knowledge that proved Eames fit the physical definition of beefcake. Maybe the beef in that cake was 80/20 rather than 90/10, but it balanced Eames out. 

Eames smiled at Dream over his glass of wine. "You think I'm a hunk, then?"

_"Yes."_

"A lady-killer?"

Dream fondly remembered Arthur's easy blushes; the fact that the tips of his ears would turn red once flustered or embarrassed. This was something that Dream could imagine blushing over, if he ever blushed at all. This was something Dream could blush over. He smiled a satisfied smile over this thought that he wouldn't share.

_"I didn't say that our server was inaccurate...just that we weren't going to have sex with her at the dinner table. That we weren't going to have sex with her at all. It just isn't polite."_

Eames's smile widened. "That was a very interesting distinction, Dream."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eames stood up and to his credit he didn't stumble or sway as he walked to Dream's side. Dream remained seated and silently watched Eames approach.
> 
> "I bet that you just spent a solid minute and a half-"
> 
>  _"It wasn't that long,"_ Dream countered, remembering how bantering with Eames had been a favorite pastime of his when he was still Arthur.
> 
> Eames shook his head and said, "No, no, I counted every second. Ninety seconds definitely passed while you were still thinking about what you said before!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Day 18: Prince  
> 2, 819 words total
> 
> Pop the champagne, they've finally kissed!

They'd continued their meal, Dream took over pouring the wine after their adventurous server was dismissed. After several courses it was clear that they'd each had a little too much, which was saying something. Dream hadn't even been slightly inebriated in Eames's company; well, only as Arthur. _Always_ as Arthur. For some reason, it didn't seem to count.

When Dream was Arthur he had been a smiling, happy drunk-- it fit Arthur, the mortal, it worked. As himself alone, Dream only retreated further into introspective musing. And Eames noticed.

"What are you thinking about, Dream?" Eames asked with a smile, pushing away his wine glass and folding his arms on the table before him.

Dream had been seated with his fingers steepled over his glass of wine. When he heard his name, the Endless looked up at Eames.

 _"Oh,"_ Dream said with complete honesty, _"I was actually thinking about what I said earlier."_

This made Eames smile again. "You shouldn't over think it. I thought it was a pretty funny joke that diffused the tension she caused after delivering that proposition at the table."

Dream didn't give any outward signs that he was tense or worried. He'd been musing on Eames's response to what he said. He'd been thinking about the _interesting distinction_ Eames had pointed out. Because if one considered how he said what he said, the Endless had basically made a proposition of his own.

Neither of them were going to have sex with her. Nothing was happening at the dinner table. If any of those things happened it could be considering improper because of the location, and impolite because any of his servants could just walk in. Dream had responsibilities that he took very seriously.

But of course, Dream _did_ agree with the server's statement. Eames qualified as a beefcake, even to the point where Dream thought it over, not saying his findings aloud, but still agreeing; when Eames had been teasingly questioning Dream about whether or not the Endless thought Eames was a lady-killer or a hunk, things got further away from some random dreamer serving at Dream's table flirting and offering propositions and closer to Dream and Eames flirting together.

Dream wasn't in unexplored territory. As Arthur he had once been Eames's lover, friend, and partner. Dream had many loves over his existence. He had inadvertently mentioned the others as he had told stories of Morpheus, his previous incarnation. That distinction didn't matter-- all the loves of Morpheus had been the loves of Dream, as well. All the cold things, the cruelty, and self-involvement that would lead to the relationships ending belonged to Dream as a part of his past. After being freed from his imprisonment, Morpheus had been set on righting those wrongs, on helping his former lovers, and reclaiming his realm. If Dream listened to Matthew, who had obviously been parroting something Lucien had said to him, change hadn't been easy before. _You could only change so much, before,_ Matthew had said.

There had been something freeing about loving Eames. Loving Eames as Arthur, not imagining the weight of those past experiences and hurtful choices on his shoulders, giving in to this concept that his realm wouldn't crumble if he was in reality for a little bit longer after he'd discovered the depth and spread of PASIV technology wasn't something he could stop. That it wouldn't hurt if he stayed longer to be with Eames.

Eames's quiet laughter brought Dream's attention back to the present.

"I swear," Eames said once Dream eye's met his own, "it's like I can tell what you're thinking! It's written all over your face!"

 _"And what would that be?"_ Dream couldn't help but ask.

Eames stood up and to his credit he didn't stumble or sway as he walked to Dream's side. Dream remained seated and silently watched Eames approach.

"I bet that you just spent a solid minute and a half-"

 _"It wasn't that long,"_ Dream countered, remembering how bantering with Eames had been a favorite pastime of his when he was still Arthur.

Eames shook his head and said, "No, no, I counted every second. Ninety seconds definitely passed while you were _still_ thinking about what you said before!"

Dream had to admit that Eames wasn't incorrect. Dream had spent some of that time overthinking that and then all the rest of it thinking about his past relationships and loving Eames before, and loving him now, but he wasn't going to say those things. The wine he'd had with dinner wasn't going to loosen his tongue.

 _"That is an interesting point,"_ Dream allowed, noticing how Eames had placed one hand on the headrest of Dream's chair and stood at his side. Getting close, but not completely invading his space. Giving Dream an out. Dream turned in his seat and looked up at Eames.

“I’m about to do something, and I’m not going to blame it on being a little drunk right now. You’re not going to do that either because we understand each other, Dream. I’m a consenting adult and you are...well, you’re _you._ You take your responsibilities more seriously than anyone I’ve ever met _._ ”

_“Except for one other person.”_

Eames leaned down cupped Dream’s face in his hands and said, “And that person was also you, in a way. If you were a mortal, if you’d grown up out there in reality and weren’t an Endless, then he could have been you. You could have been him. So that’s what you ended up doing, Dream. I think I'm going to regret it if I don't try this."

 _“I just want to make you happy.”_ But even as Dream said this he pressed his hand against Eames’s cheek. Not restraining or stopping him, but welcoming him.

Eames took a breath and leaned in to press his lips against Dream’s.

And an unexpected visitor cut their moment short.

“Master, I’d hate to bother you during your meal with Mr. Eames, but-”

Eames broke the kiss and stepped away from Dream’s chair. It was part in embarrassment, part in allowing business to continue in the Dreaming as usual. Dream was the king, after all. It was Lucien, the Librarian of the Dreaming. The bespectacled man’s eyes had widened as he looked from a slightly embarrassed Eames to a reserved Dream.

_“Yes, Lucien?”_

“No, no, it’s fine. I can take care of this myself, my lord.”

Dream held up his hand, asking Lucien to please be silent. He then looked up at Eames and asked, _“May we continue this later?”_

Eames nodded and, now a little unsteady, made the trip out of the dining room and towards his rooms.

Dream looked up at Lucien and sighed.

_“What is the problem you need to bring to my attention, Lucien?”_

And because Lucien wouldn’t attempt to start a conversation with Dream about what had just been interrupted, the librarian just began to explain the problem that had occurred.

* * *

“Hey, Mr. Eames!”

Eames was almost at the door to his rooms when Matthew the Raven flapped over to him from some unseen perch.

Without thinking much of it, Eames raised his arm and offered his wrist and forearm to Matthew, who landed there. The raven was holding on with his talons and spreading his wings to balance himself for a moment but it didn’t take the raven long to get used to Eames’s gait, the level he was holding his arm. It was more or less straight, so Matthew was in no danger of tumbling from Eames’s arm.

“I thought that you were going to be busy.”

“I was busy. I went to work, came back to the hotel, fell asleep and then appeared here to have dinner with Dream.”

If his gait wasn’t telling, Eames finally said it to Matthew out loud. “I had a little too much wine at dinner, so I’m sorry.”

“No worries, Eames.” Matthew said. “So you’re heading to bed because you’re a little tipsy?”

Eames nodded a little. “It seemed like a good idea after Lucien walked in on Dream and I kissing, so-”

“What!” Matthew said in surprise! “It- it happened? And I didn’t see it?” 

Eames stopped bothering to try and walk to his door. He leaned his back against the hall and held the raven perched on his arm level with his face. “I want you to see the look on my face right now, Matthew. Okay? That wasn’t cool. It shouldn’t be your business if I’m kissing your master. We made it clear awhile ago that we like each other. You were there, so you already know that.”

“I know! But he didn’t even get any coaching from me, Eames! He may be older than anything, and he may have been in dozens of relationships, but since Morpheus was replaced with Dream I’ve made it my job to help him out with all of this stuff. He had a lot to get used to when he first started! He had to rely on me for so much!”

Eames, still drunk, reached out with his free hand and began to gently stroke Matthew’s feathers, hoping to soothe the raven.

“I get this feeling that you’re protective of Dream,” Eames said to the raven on his arm. “It was probably really stressful when he went out to be Arthur, found me, and then managed to get me involved in his existence here when he could have just walked away once Arthur was gone.”

“The boss couldn’t do that, Eames.”

“You’re his bro, right? Is that the term you were using?”

The raven turned his head away for a moment then leaned forwards to run his beak through Eames’s hair as if he had seen something there.

“Hair was mussed,” Matthew explained before continuing. “I’m his friend. He’s my boss and my friend, and I know that he wants to have a nice relationship with you. That he had a really good one with you before. So if you’ve actually gotten to that level now, I feel that I have to say this for his sake. I will peck out your spleen if you hurt his feelings.”

Eames frowned at the raven before nodding in agreement. “I’d probably deserve that. He’s great, Matthew. He really is.”

_“I would prefer it if you kept your spleen, Mr. Eames.”_

Eames looked away from the raven on his forearm, then up at Dream. Matthew hunched a little on Eames’s wrist before turning to look at his master.

Eames extended his arm away from his chest, and Matthew jumped from his perch to fly to Dream, landing on the dream lord’s shoulder.

“Sorry, boss.”

_“I know that you meant no actual harm.”_

“I could peck out his spleen if he ever hurts you,” Matthew promised. “I _could_.”

_“But I thought that you liked Mr. Eames? That he listened to all of your stories from being a man, that he told you funny jokes, or gave you news that you found interesting?”_

Matthew didn’t confirm or deny any of those things.

Dream turned to Eames, not minding that Matthew was still on his shoulder and listening in. _“Matthew has been my dear friend since I became Dream of the Endless. He is entitled to give you a shovel talk. Even if it is completely unnecessary.”_

Eames understood that. He even respected the fact that Matthew was trying to protect Dream in that way. 

“I figured I would hang out up here and try to work through the effects of dream alcohol.”

Dream gestured to Matthew, politely asking the raven to leave.

_“Give us a moment, Matthew.”_

The raven left, but didn’t look particularly happy about it.

Dream and Eames ended up entering the rooms that Eames still hadn’t managed to change back to normal. There were still signs of his life with Arthur everywhere, little things that reminded him of their time together. Dream would recognize all of them, and would know their significance too.

Eames sat heavily on the edge of his bed and looked up at Dream who remained standing before the bed.

“Am I going to wake up with a hangover?” Eames asked curiously. He was purposely not saying anything about kissing. Or _the_ kiss. That he'd kind of like to go back to that, please?

When Dream touched him next it was only to gently press two fingers against Eames's brow.

_“No. Maybe a headache, but the negative effects of drinking too much in dreams will not harm you in reality. Your liver will be fine, too. Now just relax...”_

Eames’s eyes slipped shut. He felt something rush through him. Energy? Emotion, tinged with something extra? Eames thought he felt something from the point where Dream had pressed his fingers- it was a cool, sort of cleansing sensation that took away any ill effects and left calm in its place.

Eames lay back on the bed, and then opened his eyes again to notice that Dream still had his fingers in the same position. He hadn’t pushed Eames to lay down.

_“You will feel much better tomorrow, Eames.”_

Eames blinked up at him. “Care to lie down since you’re already here?”

Dream smiled pleasantly, but shook his head. _“I will not take advantage of you in such a state, Eames. Please, just relax as I send you to your bed.”_

“I’m in my bed already. And you’re not taking advantage of me!”

 _“I’ll send you to your bed in reality,”_ Dream clarified. _“I was glad to see you when you appeared at the table for dinner. I am sorry that the dreamer acting as our server propositioned you.”_ Dream paused and his smile widened. _“Thank you for kissing me.”_

“I actually wanted to give you more than one kiss, you know. Why did Lucien come in at that moment?”

 _“Nothing too serious, really.”_ Dream only smiled, and then shrugged. _“Please, close your eyes and relax. We’ll talk about this later on when you aren’t busy with another job, and I’m not busy dealing with my librarian.”_

Dream was actually stopping himself from initiating another kiss. It hadn’t been right to let Eames start the first, given the state he was in. But it had been nice, Dream thought. It was lovely. Just as wonderful as Dream remembered from any of the kisses he had experienced as Arthur.

_“Mr. Eames, just relax and count backwards from one hundred.”_

Before Eames reached ninety-eight, he'd vanished from the bed.


End file.
